Pine Island is located in Louisiana on the north shore of Lake Pontchartrain near Madisonville, Louisiana. It's a 3,000-acre private wildlife preserve that's home to thousands of roosting birds and other flora and fauna. It was originally home to a logging operation based in Madisonville, but cypress logging ceased at Pine Island nearly a century ago. The family that owned the property until just recently maintained Pine Island as a wildlife refuge and now the current owner continues that tradition. The property is closed to the public but birders with the Great Louisiana Birdfest are occasionally allowed into the area. Located on the propery is a 300-acre, man-made lake that houses one of the south's largest rookeries where, as dusk settles, thousands of birds, including egrets, herons, ibis, Anhinga and others, fly in for an evening's rest.